Elves and Valar
by Eawen Galfinriel
Summary: Thranduil/OFC This is the story of Eäwen, the Maiden of Eä, and how she met Thranduil.
1. Notes and Introduction

NOTES: This is my first fic and english is not my first language. I'm trying my best but please tell me if anything's wrong. There should be a plot to this, still thinking about it! Tell me if you have any ideas :)

ps. this is just an intro, doesn't count as a chapter. enjoyyyy

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><p>This is the story of Eäwen, the Maiden of Eä, and how she met Thranduil.<p>

It is said that she was the daughter of Varda, forced to live forever in the Middle Earth, and carried in her eyes the light of the stars her mother had given her.

Being apart from her own kin, Eäwen was raised by mortals and lived the long life of an elf, if so she was. She was called the Maiden of Eä, for she belonged to the Middle Earth only, and never found a home until she arrived to Eryn Lasgalen, then called Mirkwood.


	2. The Forest Fight

Eäwen had been travelling for days and now she was completely lost. Forests were something usual for her, having lived most of her life hunting in them, and she always knew how to find her way, either following the sun or the stars.

However, this place looked nothing like the other forests she had been to. There were no animals, no light, no water. Well, there actually was water, but for the looks of it, Eäwen knew better than to drink it. It was dark and it flowed slowly, almost in complete silence. Only being near it had caused her numbness, and she felt the necesity to stop for a while. Climbing a tall tree to be out of danger, she leaned on a wide branch and closed her eyes for a while.

She stood like that for what could've been hours, until she heard something in the distance. Voices. There was someone else in the forest. Suddenly awakened, she stood in silence and moved to a near branch in order to be closer to the voices.

"My lord, I don't think there's anything else in here. We searched for hours. The orcs must have gone south." Someone was saying.

"I will have someone circle the zone. Make sure nothing's left alive." A loud, authoritarian voice answered.

"Yes, my lord."

As she heared these last words, Eäwen saw them moving at the bottom left. A formation of at least fifty armored elves was walking behind one tall, crowned elf. He was without doubt their king.

Eäwen had never seen so many elves at once. She had always been amused by them, but never dared getting too close. She used to watch them when she was younger, just like this, sitting above them on the trees. This way she had learned something about their languages, and found out that, unlike the family that had raised her hundreds of years before, elves seemed to hold longer lives, just like hers.

This elves, however, looked different than any she had ever seen before. They were wilder, somehow. They moved faster than other elves, nimbly around the forest, and where dressed in green. Eäwen also noticed how the King's crown was not made of jewels and metals, but of twigs and leaves.

Following the King's order, one of the armored elves instructed the others to move around, leaving only himself and Thranduil on Eäwen's sight.

As the other elves were leaving, the King moved forward, getting closer to Eäwen's hiding place. She moved to another branch, hiding behind its leaves. The king seemed to hear her move, and immediately looked up to the tree in which she had just been standing. His eyes gazing around, the king stood in complete silence, holding the grip of his sword. So did the elf next to him.

Eäwen mirrored the elf's actions, standing still and drawing her bow, ready for the attack.

After a few seconds of silence, the King relaxed and unhanded his sword. Eäwen stood still, pointing her arrow right to the elf.

"My lord, I don't think it is wise for you to stay in the forest. The guards will clear this place. You should go back to the palace." The other elf said, breaking the silence.

The king opened his mouth to answer, but just before he could speak, the sound of a horn was played in the distance. Both elves started running in the direction of the sound, Eäwen following them. But before they could get much further, a group of orcs surrounded them. They were outnumbered, and arrows started flying in their direction. The elves held their shields up protecting themselves, and drew their weapons. In only a few seconds, they had killed most of the orcs. Eäwen watched the fight with her bow ready to shoot in case it was necessary. She didn't dare to show her position, not knowing who her real enemy was.

When the battle was almost finished, an orc came from the trees, heading right to where the king's partner was fighting sword to sword with another orc. The king, too far to reach the orc in time, saw him and screamed "Alinar!".

The other elf, hearing his name, turned around, but it was too late for him to stop the orc.

Suddenly, an arrow landed right on the back of the orc's head. His body collapsed, and the elf named Alinar looked at him surprised, without noticing the arrow until the orc fell next to him.

Both him and the king looked up to see where the arrow had come from, confused. Eäwen, terrified of what she had just done, took another arrow and aimed it at the elves, ready to defend herself. She saw the king wander with his eyes until he saw her behind the leaves, and his gaze petrified her.

"Show yourself." The king demanded, his voice loud. "Now." He added when he didn't get a quick answer.

Eäwen, fighting her fear, slowly got out from behind the leaves, still holding her bow.

"Who are you?" The king asked, his voice still demanding. As he spoke to Eäwen, Alinar drew his bow and aimed it at Eäwen. "Drop your weapon now if you don't want to die".

Eäwen, looking anxiously at the other elf pointing at her, lowered his bow a little. She was not sure what to do next.

"Did you not hear me? Drop your weapon and get down that tree, right now." The king said calmly but authoritatively.

She was scared as she started jumping off from branch to branch, until she hit the floor. The arrow was still positioned in her bow, but it was now pointing at the floor.

"Tell me your name." The king said. His voice was serious, and he looked calm. Now standing by the same level as he, she noticed he was quite taller and bigger than her, and she got restless.

"I... My name is Eäwen" she answered timidly. Right as she spoke, she noticed how most of the elves had come back, and were now staring at her. She looked at them scared, knowing that now there was no way out of this, unless they decided to let her go.

"Well, Eäwen... you will explain me why you are in my Realm without my permission." He said with a smirk now in his face.

Eäwen looked at him a little confused, until she managed to speak:

"I beg you pardon, my lord. I did not know this was your Realm, I... I will leave right away if you allow me to."

The king smiled.

"Allow you to leave? I don't think so... Not without a real explanation."

"I am telling the truth! I did nothing but save your guard. Please allow me to leave now." She said in shock. What else could she have been doing here?

The king walked back and forth, breaking eye contact with her.

"From my point of view" he spoke, raising his voice "you where hiding in my Realm with no authorization, armed, and you shoot an arrow too close to my guard." He stopped his walk and turn to look at her again. "If you have nothing else to say, you will be taken as a prisoner."

Eäwen's heart skipped a beat. "I saved his life!" She screamed, as five elves walked towards her, grabbing her arms and shoulders and dragging her against her will.

The king, who had turned his back, stopped and looked at her over his shoulder, now somewhat pissed off.

"Remember who you are addressing, my dear. I am King Thranduil of the Woodland Realm. Watch your words."

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><p>NOTES: okkkk here's my first chapter. or second, whatever. that was hard, I'm not used to writing and I tend to ramble a lot so tell me what you think. xxx<p> 


	3. Meetings

Eäwen found herself locked in a small, dark cell. It looked nothing like the rest of the palace, as far as she had got to see while the guards where dragging her through the many halls. They had taken her downstairs, deep into the caves, where the sunlight no longer glimmered through the branches in the roof. After crossing a long corridor, they had finally opened a barred door, locked her in the following cell and left without saying a word. Where the king had gone, she had no idea.

She sat there for a while, scared to think of what was going to happen to her. She was completely helpless and unarmed now. How on earth had this happend to her? In thousands of years, she had never found herself in such a situation. She blamed the moment she shot that arrow, without thinking of the possible consequences.

Eäwen waited in the silent darkness, but nothing happened. She fell asleep a couple times, but always woke up to the same reality. Finally, when she was about to give up the battle against her tears, she heard footsteps echoing through the hall. She stood up immediately, eager to see who it was. Her heart sank to what she saw. The king himself was walking towards her own cell, followed by three guards. As he approached her, he stared into her eyes, as if he was trying to figure something out.

The king finally reached her cell, and stood there in silence. Eäwen looked up at his eyes, but as soon as she did, she looked away, scared of his evident rage.

"Hello, Eäwen" he said coldly. "You will tell me why you trespassed my realm, unless you want to spend the rest of your life here, down in my dungeons."

Eäwen looked at him confused. Why was he so insisting on this? Since when was being lost in a forest a crime?

"My lord, you must believe me" she said, as respectfully as she could. "I was only travelling, and I got lost. The water numbed me, so I was resting on a tree when you appeared..."

"And why, may I ask, were you travelling in this forest?" he interrupted her, his voice loud and demanding.

"I was escaping the orcs, my lord. They were chasing me through the plains, so I was forced to enter the forest. Things have changed, and it is now difficult to find a safe place to live in. I went northward, for I didn't feel safe in the south. Then you found me." She spoke truthfully. How could any of this be her fault?

"So you have come from the South..." The king said slowly, almost to himself. He suddenly looked at her eyes again, and spoke now louder. "I will not deal with any other threaten. You will stay here where I can watch over you. Give me a reason, and I shall send your head back to where it came from". With this, he turned his back at her and walked away, his burgundy cape flowing behind him as he left her sight.

Eäwen fell back down to the floor, the tears once again fighting to leave her eyes. A threaten, she? What was it that this king was so scared of? These thoughts roamed her mind for a while, as she also thought of how this all would end. There was no way to escape the dungeons, and death had never felt so close.

A guard came in after a while and gave her some bread, fruits and water. She ate whithout thinking twice, unable to remember when was the last time she'd had anything to eat. Once full, she fell into a restless sleep.

She dreamed the orcs were chasing, and she fought them once more in her sleep. She saw them take her ring, and suddenly it was the elven King who was holding it, looking at her with hate and and anger.

The scene changed, and now she was in a cabin, far in the East of Middle Earth. An old woman was sitting near the fire.

"Mother, do you know who gave this ring to me?" she asked the woman, showing her a silver ring with a big blue gemstone in it, which seemed to sparke in every angle.

The woman smiled kindly at her and answered:

"I don't know, my love. It was all you had when we first found you, a little elfling by the lake. You would never take it off, and you used to say it was from home".

The scene changed once more and the woman was now a boy, running through the trees.

"You can't catch me, Eäwen!" he yelled, but then he trapped over a great root.

"Beleg!" Eäwen called him, but now everything was dark and she couldn't recognise where she was.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you" someone said. Suddenly realising where she was, Eäwen looked at the place the voice had came from.

She stood up immediately, mistaking him for the king. He had the same bright green eyes and golden hair, but his height was lower and he wore no crown.

"I am Legolas, son of Thranduil" he said, noticing the confussion in her eyes.

"I am sorry, my lord" she said curtseying.

"Please don't be. I just brought you breakfast. I thought you'd be hungry" he smiled. Eäwen looked at him a bit surprised.

Legolas opened the barred door and close it again after entering the small cell. He lay the tray on the floor and sat in front of Eäwen. "Please, eat" he said.

Eäwen sat back in front of Legolas and started to eat, always keeping an eye on him.

"I hope you don't mind my company. People are talking a lot about you, and I just wanted to meet you. Eäwen, am I right?" he asked.

"You are, my lord... Wait, people are talking about me?" Eäwen asked, increasingly surprised.

"Yes, and please don't call me that. I am Legolas, not my father" he joked. Sensing she hadn't found it funny, he continued. "There is a rumour saying that there is a princess in the dungeons, and that she is more beautiful than any other elven maiden in the palace".

Eäwen sipped some water, trying to break the eye contact. He was staring at her.

"The rumours are very kind, my lord, but I am no more than a simple hunter. In fact, I am no more than a prisoner right now."

"And may I ask how it is that you ended up in here?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well, it seems that I am a trespasser, and your father thinks that I might be a threaten".

"Oh, you must forgive him. He tends to be kind of overprotective of his realm when it comes to strangers and foreigners. I am sure you don't deserve such term, thought. A beauty like you shouldn't be in a prison" he said, staring at her once more.

Eäwen kept eating and looked away. What did this boy want? He looked a lot like his father, but was obviously kinder than him. Still, his words troubled her as she wasn't quite sure of what his intentions might be.

As if he could read her mind, Legolas said:

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I just want to help you out of here. Nothing more" he said whith a smile and a softer look.

"Help me out? And how would you do that?" Eäwen asked, now intrigued.

Legolas looked around and made sure no-one was listening. He lowered his voice and spoke hurriedly: "I think I know how to help you escape. There will be a party tonight, at the Royal Hall. Everyone will attend. After the guards have brought you your dinner, I will take the keys and guide you to the backdoor. It is slightly far from here, but we shouldn't have much trouble, since most people will be off duty. No-one will see us."

"Wait..." Eäwen tried to digest all of the information. The plan seemed fine, but she still wasn't sure she could trust this boy. He was, after all, the son of the king, and this could be a trap.

As if he knew her thoughts, Legolas spoke again answering her doubts:

"Eäwen, you have to trust me. All I want is you to leave this place alive. My father hasn't made up his mind about you yet, but he will soon, and then there will be nothing you can do."

Something in Legolas' young, innocent eyes told her he was telling the truth. Besides, she didn't have many options, and if she wanted to escape, this was her chance.

"Alright, what do I have to do?"

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><p>NOTES: This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I accidentally deleted it and had to write it all over, so it came up shorter. I'll have to be more careful next time! Thanks for reading.<p> 


	4. Explanations

Eäwen waited until midnight, as Legolas had told her. A guard had brought her dinner and then left to the party. There had been no-one in the dungeons since then.

She was nervous, of course. If something went wrong, the King would certainly be mad, and he had already told her what he would do.

Trying to keep these thoughts away from her mind, Eäwen waited patiently, daydreaming of the forest and the trees. She missed those simple days when nothing mattered, and food and water where her only worries.

But it had been a long time since those days had ended. Eäwen had been escaping for the last couple years. She didn't even know exactly what it was she was escaping from. Orcs, spiders, trolls, wolves ... even men and elves. The world was getting darker, as if a shadow was spreading all over it, and one couldn't trust anybody now.

She daydreamed of sleeping under the stars, bathing her face in their light. But now the stars were shining way above her, and she could not see them from the depths of the cave.

Eäwen waited and waited, imagining how her life would be once she was free again. She also thought of her ring, the one she had always carried with herself, and remembered her dream.

For some reason she didn't understand, that ring had always felt like home for her. She didn't really remember, but she believed it had belonged to her family, the one she never knew. She wanted to see it again, to see its light shine bright like the stars.

Why had the orcs taken it? She had no idea. It had only been a few days since they had attacked and tried to kidnap her. She had managed to kill a few of them and to free herself, but in the fight someone had slided it from her finger. She never saw who took it - they were so many, all she could do was to climb a tree and escape.

"They will probably just melt the silver" she thought.

As these images crossed her mind, time kept passing by, and Eäwen suddenly realised how late it was. It had been too many hours since the guard had brought her dinner. It had to be way past midnight already.

She started getting anxious. Perhaps Legolas was just fooling her.

"How stupid I was" she thought. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted him. I swore myself I would never trust a stranger. I am smarter than that... Or at least I thought I was".

She was really disappointed. She had been naive once again, and yet Legolas had seemed honest to her... But he was obviously just playing around. He was just a boy, she could see that in his fair face. He had probably just wanted to see the prisoner to tell his friends about her. She imagined Legolas laughing with a group of elves as he told them how she had bought his story.

Frustrated, Eäwen kicked the floor. She couldn't even do anything. That was it. Legolas was her only hope. But now she was alone.

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><p>Eäwen woke up the morning after with her eyes red and swollen; she had cried herself to sleep. She looked around and saw a tray in the floor - at least someone had brought her some breakfast.<p>

She sat and started eating slowly; she wasn't hungry anymore. It felt worse, though. Now that her basic needs where covered, her lack of freedom hurt her even more. Anger came back to her after remembering Legolas' lie.

The sound of the opening door filled the dungeon, followed by some hurried footsteps. Eäwen looked in their direction and saw the king. He looked even angrier than the last time.

Eäwen stood up - she was starting to get tired of these visits. She curtsied when the ring reached her cell.

"Enough of that! I know what you have done..." the king was glaring at her. Well, at least he wasn't annoyingly calm now, Eäwen thought. "Trying to get my son to help you escape... Did you really believe you were going to succeed?!"

"My lord, I..."

"Don't even try to lie to me! I found him with the keys to your cell last night, trying to escape the party... How idiotic of you to think I wouldn't realise!"

Eäwen looked away from his eyes. Legolas had actually tried to help her...? Well, it didn't matter now. The king was probably going to slay her. She tried to form an answer.

"I am so sorry, my lord, but I wasn't aware of this, I swear" she lied, trying to look as innocent as she could.

The king looked her in the eyes for a while and stepped towards her.

"Liar" he said the word as if it had a bad taste in his mouth.

Then he turned his back at her and started talking camly again, trying to disguise his anger, Eäwen thought.

"You see... Legolas is a good lad, but sometimes he can get carried away... specially by the ladies" with this, he looked at Eäwen over his shoulder. "I know he has brought you breakfast yesterday and spoke to you, so don't even try to deceive me. You should be thankful I am still keeping you alive" and without expeting an answer, he left.

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><p>The following week passed by very slowly to Eäwen. It had been six days until she received another visit (except for the occasional guard bringing her food and water).<p>

"Legolas!" she smiled when she saw him walking to her cell, almost as if he were a close friend of her. She blushed a little when she realised this. Too much time alone, she thought.

Legolas smiled back at her, surprised by her reaction.

"Glad to see you're still alive" he grinned. "I am so sorry for what happened... My father discovered me and sent me away for a while. I was so scared of waht would happen to you. He seemed really furious" he said worriedly.

"It's fine, really, he didn't do anything to me, suprisingly. And thank you for trying anyway" she tried to smile at him.

Legolas sat on the floor in font of Eäwen's cell.

"Are you alright, then?" he asked.

"I am alive, as you said. Why do you worry so much? I can take care of myself" she said now stubbornly as she sat too. Legolas' concern about her was nice, but it bothered her a little. She didn't need his help.

Legolas just shrugged and looked down.

They remained silent for a while. Eäwen regretted her words. After all, having company felt nice after sitting in the darkness by her own for so long.

"Legolas..." she broke the silence, trying to change the subject of her own thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Do you know what is happening in the south of the forest? I... Well, I escaped from there barely alive, and your father seemed really upset when I mentioned the place" she let out, remembering how the king had called her a threaten after that.

Legolas' face changed suddenly. It wasn't worry what showed now in his eyes, but actual grief and fear.

"I'm sorry, I didn't... you don't have to answer if you don't want to".

"Oh no, don't worry" he said, trying to change his look. "I actually don't know what is happening. It's been like that for the last couple years. It's my father... something happened to him. I don't know what" he stopped for a moment and then sighed. "You see, he left once. Nobody knows why. He had gone hunting and suddenly disappeared. None of the elves who travelled with him could tell what happened. We looked for him, for about six months, but we didn't find anything. For that time I..." he stopped again and looked to his side, wiping his eyes. "I thought I had lost him" he almost whispered as his voice cracked.

Eäwen look down. Poor boy. She wished she could comfort him somehow. "Why do I even care about him?" she thought.

"But he came back" Legolas continued after taking a deep breath. "After seven months. We were losing our hopes, when he just came from the forest. And he... he looked different. Not hurt, he was fine, but he wouldn't speak to anybody, not even to me. He never explained what had happened to him, but with time everything went back to normal. It's like people don't even remember anymore. But my father has changed, Eäwen. He never leaves now. He looks so calm, but I know something's happened to him. I'm afraid that might be the reason why he thinks you are threaten. I think he is scared".

Eäwen thought about this fow a while.

"So you think whatever's happened to him has something to do with what's going on in the south?" she asked him.

"Well, yes, I can't think of anything else."

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><p>NOTES: first of all thank you so much for following, comenting or favouriting this story! And I promise Eäwen won't stay in the dungeons much more, I'll try to add more action to the next one!<p> 


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